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American Idol January 28 2009 – Salt Lake City Season 8 Auditio
By PopSavant | January 28, 2009 | 
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Hello folks, and welcome to the live blog of the American Idol auditions from Salt Lake City, January 28, 2009. I’ve never been to SLC myself, so I don’t know what to expect from the crowd other than the stereotypical lots-of-Mormons-and-no-bars stuff. What I do know is that it’s the city that gave us David Archuleta last year, and I wasn’t a big fan last of his. He went nearly all the way so props to the kid, but he also inflicted his rendition of Chris Brown’s With You on America, and that’s hard to forgive, Boo. Anyway. On with the festivities.
Sure enough, here’s the show, opening up by reminding us of the Archuleta Angle. Let’s see what else the town has for us.
Ah. The opening song for tonight is Shiny Happy People… this is a bad omen. I love me some REM, but how about a little Gardening at Night instead?
Ryan tells us that one of the big hopes of the show was to find the next Osmonds, and we have to believe him since he delivers the line with a straight face. To that end, they open up with David Osmond, who tells us he’s got MS and was recently in a wheel chair, singing Something Within Me by Take 6. Paula worries that David is used to singing harmony rather than solo; Randy says “not my favorite song choice for an audition.” Kara criticizes the amount of runs he puts into his audition, which is incredibly annoying because its her own damn fault – the exact kind of music she’s involved with is responsible for America thinking that sort of out of control yowling is what constitutes a good voice. The judges overcome their doubts, though, and send him on to Hollywood. My take is that he will probably sound fine when wrapped in a studio, but his raw talent level is just okay. But he’s got the good looks and enough talent to go a few shows deep if he gets through Hollywood. Kara offers that David was “so genuine!” which comes across kind of like the hot girl you’ve got a crush on telling you she wants to be friends.
Tara Matthews is up next, a redhead sporting an affected pseudo-goth get-up complete with opera gloves and black garter stockings that look a bit too small for her. Ryan asks if she’s playing a character, and Tara responds that it’s just how she likes to dress, and oh-by-the-way-I-have-ESP. Whatever. I love the goth look myself but it’s as much attitude as anything, and this chick doesn’t have it. She sings One Day I’ll Fly Away and it’s reminiscent of the sound you get when you Windex a piece of glass a bit too vigorously. “Horrendous,” Simon says, and she’s gone with a parting comment of “I’ll just leave now since you obviously didn’t like it.” We didn’t. Next.
Next up is a compilation clip of rejects including Alesha Turner, Katie Sullivan, and Rich Kagel, the latter looking a bit like the long lost love child of an affair between Christopher Lambert and Ted Nugent.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, the show follows up with Chris Kirkham, accompanied by his friend Greg the Rabbit – a big bearded guy in a pink bunny suit of the sort most recently seen in A Christmas Story. Chris starts to launch into a twangy version of Roll to Me, but the judges can’t take him seriously after the bunny thing and he’s out the door.
Ryan takes a second to give some advice to the holding room: go in confidently. Makes sense to me. What kind of Idol grovels at the judges’ feet?
Frankie Jordan comes in after the commercial. Idol had previously run a teaser asking “Have we found the next Amy Winehouse?” Oddly enough, Frankie’s baby is dressed in a cute little prison stripe outfit, which plays right in to the Winehouse story; Frankie completes the act by singing Amy’s You Know I’m No Good. Frankie has a good voice but projects a hot-stuff vibe that makes me not like her… the judges seem more tolerant than me, though. Simon offers “I quite like you. I quite like your voice and you’ve got a cute little face.” Frankie gets four quick yes votes, and she’s on her way, or as Ryan puts it “Frankie goes to Hollywood.”
Megan Corkrey follows. She’s an attractive girl with a fairly cool looking sleeve tattoo – thank you Gina and Carly for opening the show up to this kind of look. She’s been through a recent divorce, and has a young son named Ryder. Megan enters the room and Kara gives her one of those jealous-chick-up-and-down scans… bitch. Megan sings Can’t Help Loving That Man of Mine. She rushes a bit, but has a decent voice, although her range seems limited. She gives off none of the attitude I hated about Frankie. I like her. The judges agree, Randy saying “I kinda like you, man… that’s something new, while Paula says that she’s “bordering on loving you Simon calls it “one of my favorite auditions.” Kara gives in to peer pressure and says Megan is an “interesting girl, you have a glow about you, you have an incredible face.” So Megan’s off to Hollywood.
The next meaningful audition is by Austin Sisneros, senior class president of his Riverton high school class. He tells us that he’s “auditioning to inspire people… to tell them it’s okay to follow their dreams.” He chooses to sing When I Look To The Sky by Train, with which the judges are completely unfamiliar. Randy thought it was “okay… very weird, strange song choice, not the greatest song for you.” Austin takes a different angle than the usual whining and pleading, putting all the responsibility back onto the judges, saying “You guys don’t want me to fail!” The ploy works, and they give him a second song which turns out to be It Takes A Village by Raffi. Simon sums Austin’s musical tastes up: “you’ve managed the worse songs so far.” Regardless, the judges like him. Randy thinks “you’ve got some perseverance jumping off right there” Kara does her usual and parrots back the sentiments of whatever judge speaks immediately prior to her, in this case agreeing with Randy. Simon suggests that Austin “become young. For your age, you’re very likable, you could be great.” Myself, I didn’t think his voice was anything more than average, but I don’t get a vote, so Austin gets a golden ticket.
Watch out for Austin. He could be this season’s Archuleta: squeaky clean, cute enough to be a hit with the young female demographic, on a mission to inspire the world, and with the capability to mesmerize people into overestimating his musical ability.
Taylor Vaifanua auditions next, coming to us from Utah by way of Samoa. Her pre-audition interview is all about how tall she is (5′ 11″) which leads me to believe she doesn’t have much interesting to say, She offers up Joyful, Joyful. Kara is “impressed with her, because I saw her in the bathroom … practicing!” I assume Kara meant she was practicing her singing. Randy thinks it was one of best vocals so far this season. In short, they love her. I didn’t.
Last tonight is Rose Flack. Keeping with the theme of the season, the last contestant has a sob story. So if you’re planning on auditioning next season, try to get their early lest tragedy strike you. Rose’s story is sad, though, having lost her parents within two years of each other, and being taken in by friends. Simon greets her with “Hello Rose Flack,” making the name sound like a moniker one of the kids from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory might have had. Asked to say something interesting about herself, Rose tells us “I’m charming.” She sings I Feel The Earth Move by Carol King. The song doesn’t suit her… but her voice isn’t strong enough for this, and she didn’t seem to have many notes at her command. Something softer suiting her hippie vibe would have probably been okay. I say she goes through, but ultimately she’s not Idol material. Paula tells her “you’ve got such a beautiful face, a beautiful aura… got to work on the vocals, though,” while Simon “didn’t think it was the best song choice ” but thinks Rose has “something about her.” Two more yes votes from Kara and Randy and Rose on her way to the next round.
So, to sum up, going through tonight:
David Osmond – meh.
Frankie Jordan – good voice, didn’t like her.
Megan Corkrey – liked.
Austin Sisneros – meh.
Taylor Vaifanua – didn’t like.
Rose Flack – meh.
And there you have it. We get a Thursday show tomorrow, two house with the highlights of the New York and Puerto Rico auditions. See you then! What do you think? Add your comments below.
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